Vijitha Herath of the University of Paderborn, Germany, writes on the issue:
Apropos the claim that Adam Gilchrist had a squash ball in his left glove during his innings at the finals of the cricket World Cup. Let me offer a scientific perspective.
A squash ball is a rubber ball. Unlike a cricket (leather) ball, it compresses when pressure is applied on it. When the pressure is released, it takes its original shape. In short, it acts like a spring ( e.g.: a motorcycle shock absorber). So what happens when a batsman has a squash ball in the palm of his bottom hand?
When a batsman swings the bat until it hits the ball, there is pressure on his bottom hand. This pressure compresses the squash ball thus storing energy in the ball similar to spring. Just after the ball hits the bat (ball still touching the bat) this pressure starts to relax while the bat is moving forward.
At the same time the energy stored in the squash ball releases its energy to the bat in the form of kinetic energy. The result is that the bat moves faster than normal (without a ball in the glove).
As a result, the release-speed of the cricket ball becomes faster resulting in the ball travelling further before hitting the ground. Therefore it results in more sixes and fours being scored.
The downside is because the bat travels faster than normal the batsman might lose control of the bat. This happened once in the Adam Gilchrist's innings when the bat slipped out of his hands and fell behind the wickets. If you have any doubts please try to do it yourself and see the result. In brief Gilchrist's use of the squash ball allowed him to hit the ball further in the field.
The above explanation clearly gives you an insight into the fact that the squash ball was used not purely as a protective gear but, as a performance enhancer to a player who was playing his last World Cup innings and did not care of the consequences, but was hell bent on rubbing some glory upon himself.
The world cup started and ended pretty well, and as usual austarlia winning it, and as usual creating a big controversy. In 1999 pakistan played into the hands of the aussies, never tried to challenge them and played the worst final of all time. In 2003 India did chase, not goin after the actual target, but to get some respect. In 2007 Sri Lanka did a put a valiant challenge, and they chased bravely too. Fought till the last moment, until all the odds were against them. From the rain, to the light, to the umpires to the event officials, everyone was simply against Sri Lanka. Oh..And I forgot to mention the air-raid by on the Sri Lankan airport. The Australians knew that Sri Lankans are the only team which could challenge them, and they were well prepared this time around. Not with skills, but with criminal mind.
Gilchrist was the only batsman in the australian innings to score, and only he did have a strike rate of more than hundred. All the other batsman played an average innings against the srilankan attack, especially Symonds and Clarke, who were struggling to get the big shots against malinga, in the final overs.
Gilchrist scored 149 of 104 balls, and took the match completely away from the lankans. After the match, Gilchrist said he had "something" in his left glove during his innings and when he reached his century he repeatedly pointed to his left batting glove with his right hand.
"I had a little message, to wave to someone at home in Australia about something in my glove," Gilchrist told the post-match media conference. He then confirmed the message was for his batting coach and former West Australia player Bob Meuleman who, Gilchrist said, had advised him to carry a squash ball in his left, bottom hand to help him with his grip. "His (Meuleman's) last words to me before I left the indoor training centre where I train with him in Perth were, 'If you are going to use it (squash ball), make sure when you score a hundred in the final you show me and prove to me you got it in there'. I had stayed true to that."
Can a batsman carry an object, in this case, a squash ballnot connected with cricket to help him on the field? Did he secure the prior permission of the umpires? Was the fielding side captain aware of the use of the squash ball? Did (Sri Lankan captain) Mahela Jayawardene approve its use?
"Before the toss and during the match, the umpires shall satisfy themselves that (a) the conduct of the game is strictly in accordance with the Laws. (b) the implements of the game conform to the requirements of Laws 5 (the ball) and 6 (the bat), together with either Laws 8.2 (size of stumps) and 8.3 (the bails) or, if appropriate, Law 8.4 (junior cricket). (c) (i) no player uses equipment other than that permitted. (ii) the wicket-keepers gloves comply with the requirements of Law 40.2 (gloves)."
Some interesting facts that made Gilchrist and which won the world cup for Aussie da pussy.
1) Gilchrist never used the squash ball in the past and also in any of the other 10 games prior to the finals. Did the squash ball help?
2) Gilchrist was out of form and didn't score many runs in the whole World Cup tour apart from the finals. Did the squash ball provide Gilchrist the required assistance to bring him back to form?
3) The World Cup final was between Sri Lanka and Gilchrist (not Australia). All other in-form Australian batsmen were struggling to score except the out-of-form Gilchrist who had this squash ball to enhance his grip or did it?
4) Most of his shots, mainly his eight sixes, were massive and cleared the grounds. Did the squash ball help?
5) The number of sixes hit by Gilchrist amounts to eight in the finals, compared to two in the previous 10 games. Is it because of the squash ball?
6) Gilchrist's average without the last innings would have been a mere 30.40 compared to the 45.30 after the finals. Did the squash ball help to boost his average?
7) Gilchrist's strike rate without the last innings would have been 91.57 compared to the 103.89 after the finals. Again, did the squash ball provide that extra power?
Australia speaks a lot about cheating and legality of a bowling action in cricket, and they were extremely harsh against Murali. How do they call this kind of a cheating of hiding a ball inside the glove?? Are they so selfish that they don’t mind cheating, but won’t let others cheat?? How fair is this?? This is not the first time Aussies showed the world that they are pussies. Australian present captain, Ricky Ponting used graphite-coated bat to give him extra strength, before it was been banned. That’s why gilchrist used his ball only in the final, before it could be banned. No wonder the Australians have won the world cup 3 in a row.
The most disturbing of all is, a friend of mine, who was born and bred in Sri Lanka for 19 years, and recently left to Australia. He is just residing there for the last 6 odd months. He is such a big Australian supporter. He forgot his motherland...motherlanka.....Interesting to see how people change very fast. If he can forget his mother Land after finding a better land, what would he do to his mom when he gets married?? I hope to meet his parents in Elders care centre after he is married!!
